In some jurisdictions, wagering is permitted on certain types of games, e.g., Bingo, lotteries, pull-tabs, is allowed. The types of games may be electronic or table games, i.e., mechanical.
In one scenario, an electronic game, such as bingo, is provided in which players compete with and against each other. A minimum of two players is needed. Each player uses a player terminal which is inter-linked, e.g., via an Ethernet network, to a central server. To initiate the play of the game, a player inserts credits or coins, or currency into the player terminal. The coins or currency may be converted into credits. The number of credits are added to a credit meter and displayed on a display screen.
If the game being played is Bingo, the player selects the level of play by pressing a “bet” button to set the wager amount for a bingo card. The player may then initiate the bingo game by pressing a “play” button.
The server, after determining that enough players have entered the game, randomly determines a string of numbers and transmits the numbers to the player terminals. These are daubed, automatically or by the player, onto their card(s).
Each game has a defined game-ending pattern. As soon, as the string of numbers results in the game ending pattern for one of the players on one of the cards, the bingo game is over and no additional numbers are transmitted. The player with the game-ending or winning pattern is awarded a payout, in terms of credits, according to a pay table which may be traded in for cash.
These electronic games, however, may be presented as a different type of game, e.g., as a video slot machine. From the player's perspective, these type of electronic games play as video slot machines. In other words, to a player, the games operate much like a video slot machine, which is a solitary gaming experience. Thus, the community nature of the underlying bingo game is lost.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems set forth above.